Matsuo Basho

 By: Madeleine, Andrew, and Ioan

Facts About Matsuo Basho

  • Born in 1644 in Ueno in Iga province
  • When he was young, he was a samurai
  • Took up Zen meditation when young
  • Only wrote haikus
  • Basho was his pen-name for Munefusa
  • Basho was his name because the name of the room he wrote his haikus in was called a basho-an, a hut made out of plantain leaves
  • Began composing in 1667 in Edo (modern-day Tokyo)
  • Wrote renga poems and haibun poems
  • Used jokes and plays-on-words because that was the poetry style
  • Was homeless for part of his life (once because of a house fire)
  • He supposedly reached a sense of heightened awareness of nature and interpreted it into his hiaku
  • He was the first person to interpret Zen Buddhism into his haiku
  • Died November 28th, 1694 A.D.
  • Died of stomach illness in Osaka.


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Basho's Haiku

Banana Tree Haiku

A banana plant in the autumn gale -
I listen to the dripping of rain
Into a basin at night.

As They Begin to Rise Again

As they begin to rise again
Chrysanthemums faintly smell,
After the flooding rain

A Ball of Snow

A Ball of Snow
You make the fire
and I’ll show you something wonderful:
a big ball of snow!

Basho's Death Poem

Sick on my journey,
only my dreams will wander
these desolate moors

A Wild Sea

A wild sea-
In the distance over Sado
The Milky Way

But For a Woodpecker

But for a woodpecker
tapping at a post, no sound
at all in the house

(Translation of But For a Woodpecker)

しかし、キツツキの

音が、ポストにタッピング

で家にあるすべての











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Page Created By:
Madeleine
Andrew
Ioan